ME. CROOKES’ NEW PSYCHIC FORCE. 
365 
absent ; ” “ when the Russian experiment was tried it was at a 
minimum,” and so on. The real facts of the case will, we think, 
form a fitting commentary on the experiments we have been 
criticising, and will also show how far Mr. Crookes is entitled 
to be considered an impartial scientific investigator. We quote 
from the “ Russian Academical Gazette.” “ A glass table was 
employed, on which stood a lamp with a reflector, so that the 
ground underneath the table was brilliantly illuminated and 
the slightest movements made by Mr. Home could be observed. 
When the seance had begun, Mr. Home announced that he 
began to feel the presence of spirits, and that these were mani- 
festing themselves by the fluctuations of the flame of a taper 
standing on the table. To this it was replied that these fluc- 
tuations were produced not by spirits but by the ventilator ; in 
fact, when this was shut, the fluctuations ceased. He then said 
the quick throbbing of his pulse showed the presence of spirits, 
but one of the committee proved that this was only due to ex- 
citement and fatigue, since his pulse beat as fast as Mr. Home’s. 
After these two failures the medium gave up the experiment 
with the table and proposed to alter the weight of some object. 
A common bucket was then placed on a weighing machine. 
The company waited long and in vain ; no change of weight 
occurred. When, finally, the seance broke up, and nothing 
whatever had been accomplished, Mr. Home promised to repeat 
the experiment ; but next day he gave out that he was indis- 
posed and therefore unable to keep his engagement.” Surely it 
required no F.R.S. to tell us that on this occasion Mr. Home’s 
power was at a minimum ; most candid readers would confess he 
had none at all. 
And now, finally, a word in conclusion. Until Mr. Home and 
his friends and allies Mr. Crookes and Dr. Huggins and 66 the 
well-known serjeant-at-law,” Serjeant Cox, whose scientific 
aspirations have led him to play the part of the Chorus in a 
Greek play — until these gentlemen will submit their mystic 
forces, whether spiritual or “ psychic,” to a most searching and 
public scientific examination, they cannot hope to meet with 
any credit, either for honesty of belief or for scientific ac- 
curacy. Truth ever is and ever should be above suspicion ; it 
may lie at the bottom of a well, but we are sadly mistaken if 
it does at the bottom of a wire-work cage. And when we say 
that we much prefer everything above-board, we certainly make 
no exception when that board is a dining-room table. 
